The Coast

Another week has slipped by since our last post.

Another busy week for sure.

Arriving in Crescent City California, we spent a few days seeing the local sights:

The Crescent City Lighthouse

The BIG Trees in Redwoods National & State Parks 

We took a great hike among the giants

Franchesca is dwarfed by one of the smaller trees. 

We had to watch out for the wildlife along the way.

Isabella tried on my sunglasses for size.

Of course each night we had a campfire.

Sometimes accompanied by steaks over the hot coals.

Believe it or not - in all my decades of camping I have never cooked steaks

directly over a wood fire.   This was a new one for me.

The steaks were awesome!

There were more on this trip and there will be more to come.

Our daytime excursions as we headed north along the Oregon Coast

always included some Beach time.

Even with the cold water (perhaps 50 degrees) the girls and I

found time to get our feet wet.

Our overnights along the coast in Oregon consisted of the following State Parks:

 Bullards Beach State Park

 Jessie Honeymann State Park

Sunset Cove State Park

and Devils Lake Sate Park.

At Bullards Beach we visited the Coquille River Lighthouse

We walked a couple of miles to the beach and back.

Kate found another item to put into the DogHouse.

This piece of wood is to become a fish according to Kate.

Our next night was spent at Sunset Cove State Park.

In the morning we visited Cape Arago State Park and

Shore Acres State Park, all three of which are located next to each other.

Below is the Cape Arago Lighthouse.

Shore Acres State Park is located on the former estate of Timber Baron

Louis Simpson.   The estate and its beautiful gardens were originally

constructed in the early 1900's however the stock market crash and a massive

fire devastated his holdings and the estate was sold to the

Oregon State Parks in the 1040's.

The entrance to the gardens.

The mansion stood above the Pacific and enjoyed an awesome view

The variety of the flowers were amazing and they change throughout

the year. 

This is just a small taste of the visual feast that we enjoyed.

North of Newport we stopped for lunch in an abandoned dirt area at the top of cliffs.

To our south was the Yaqina Head Lighthouse.

Mom and the girls share a moment.

Further up the coast near Florence we visited the Sea Lion Caves.

The Sea Lions were not in the Caves, but they were on the rocks.

These are Stellar Sea Lions - the same type that we saw up in

Alaska outside of Whittier on our Glacier Cruise.

Next to the caves is the Heceta Head Lighthouse...

Supposedly the most photographed lighthouse in the world.

It certainly is a pretty one!

Our coastal tour concluded with a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory and

of course some Ice Cream Cones.

After our final night at Devils Lake we headed inland to just south

of Portland, Oregon where we are now.

The ladies will spend a few days shopping and visiting the Outlets.

I hope to visit the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.

Our time together is winding down...  How fast the time passes.

In just a few more days we will be heading south to drop off the Dog House

then back north to fetch the Montana and once again start the

DogHouse/Montana Shuffle to get the RVs positioned

for next winter.   Then we'll head east in the DogHouse.

(remember that dance?)

Our friends will head north to Seattle to drop off the rental RV and

catch their flight back to Switzerland.

But thats not just yet.

That is all for our next post. 

Crater Lake to the Coast

Our band of travelers moved on from Sisters, heading south.

Our next stop was Collier Memorial State Park - a great

place to unwind and visit Crater Lake National Park.

Coller is located at the junction of a river and a cold spring fed stream.

I did take advantage of the Cold water for some quick swim time.

While there we visited the Logging Museum and took this picture

while crossing the stream.

Of course the highlight of our stay was a visit to beautiful Crater Lake.

Almost 2,000' deep the dark blue water is reminiscent of the water color

in the middle of the deep ocean.

The Crater was formed by the collapse of ancient Mt. Mazama during

a volcanic eruption.

With no outlet, the lake is filled entirely with rain and snowmelt.

With an average of 44' (that's feet) of snow each winter - the lake is

like a giant bathtub filled with water.

Meanwhile I continue to be impressed with the girls artistic talents.

Each night they create little villages out of sticks and plants.

A campfire.

Horse stables with Moss for hay.

Franchesca and Gracie

Isabella and Lucy

After Collier it was time to move on and another milestone of the trip.

We had to say goodbye to Ron & Maxine as they headed south to home.

We've traveled together for over 2 1/2 months to Alaska and back and it

was sad to say goodbye, but we'll see each other soon.

From Collier we headed first to Medford Oregon.

Along the way we stopped along the headwaters of the Rogue River.

The cold clear running water feeds a rafting and Kayak industry downstream. 

We also stopped for lunch at one of the numerous National Forest Campgrounds

along the way.

At our lunch stop this scenic stream - a tributary of the Rogue - ran

behind the campground.

Just after our lunch stop we lost track of Marcel and Company in our mirror.

After waiting for about 5 minutes we turned around to find them on the side of the road.

Their rental RV had thrown a tread on one of the rear tires.

So we limped into the small town of Prospect, Oregon and waited while the

rental company found someone who could come out and fix it.

The temperature was almost 100 degrees.

Right where we were parked however was the trailhead for a short trail to

a pretty waterfall, so we headed down the trail and...  you guessed it - I got wet!

Eventually Kate and I moved ahead and did some food shopping and

we met our friends at the next campground with dinner ready.

We spent a warm night in Medford and then on Thursday headed

towards the coast and cooler temperatures.

Headed down US 199, about 20 miles from the coast I noted the outside

temps begin to drop.   Slowly at first the mercury dipped to 97, then 96...

Soon it was dropping 2 degrees at a clip and before you know it, we were in beautiful 70

degree weather.   By the time we got to the coast it was 69 degrees.

Almost 30 degrees of temperature drop in 20 miles!

Our home for the next few days is the KOA at Crescent City, Ca.

We are in Redwood Country...  Home of the Giant Redwood Trees.

This KOA encompasses over 27 acres and is more like a state park.

We were extremely lucky to find a place to stay as most places were sold out.

Since we don't mind dry camping however we actually got a great spot!

The rest of the folks who want hookups are in the front of the park jammed nose to tail.

Meanwhile - we are parked in a group camping area right in a grove of Redwoods, out 

back in the park and we have the whole area to ourselves.

Peace and quiet in the Redwoods.

The drive thru the grove to our campsite.

Its a beautiful park and quite unique for a private campground..

Today we visited Crescent City and the lighthouse.

Tomorrow we will head off to see the big trees.